I found this package at the Thrift store! SCORE!!! and so this is why I used it. If you have a slightly bigger gage then try it out and see if it works for you. STEP 2 |
I bent the TEN wires in half so that I could find the mid-point. |
I took another short length of wire and I went through the middle and twisted it tight to anchor the centre. STEP 4 |
Because I am going to be building this cage from the bottom UP- I am clipping the centre wire. BUT if you are building it from the TOP DOWN, then leave the wire intact! |
It gets worse .....
but Stay tuned and hopefully you'll see what I mean.
Here I am trying to space the wires evenly because they are going to go over my form. And for THAT, - I have chosen a soft plastic bottle as seen below. |
I got mine from the dollar store. It came in a package of 3 STEP 5 |
I cut off the nozzle end with a craft knife. I left as much of the lower portion intact because it will allow me to make cages of different lengths. |
STEP 6 APPLY a SINGLE dab of glue, I used QUICK GRIP, as an anchor for the paper strip. |
STEP 7 |
Wrap a length of quilling paper 3X's around the entire bottle |
You don't need any more glue until you come to the end of the third cycle. Secure the end of the paper strip with another dab of Quick Grip |
DONE! |
STEP 8 now chose the spacing for the next paper band, and repeat Steps Six and Seven the distance that you put between the bands is what determines the length of the body of your cage. |
STEP 10 holding the wires at centre, run the spokes down and around the bottle over top of the 2 paper bands. Adjust them as necessary. |
Hook-Anchor the ends of each wire over the edge of the bottle. |
STEP11 my wires were way too long so I had to trim off the excess, but leave enough to still hook over the edge |
It should look like this inside the bottle. STEP 12 use your glue and cover the ENTIRE SURFACE OF ONE of the paper bands THEN add 3 MORE layered bands of quilling paper over the top of the wires. |
The top layer of paper sandwiches the wires so that they won't shift or move so make sure that they are as straight as can be. |
And of course, mine is now OFF CENTRE >< oh well :/ Repeat the same process for the second band |
This is what it now looks like with both bands of quilling paper. |
And now for the top of the cage- enter CHANEL |
I pierced the centre with an awl, making the hole big enough for the doubled paper wire to pass through |
I selected a filigree bead cap to tread the paper wire through. |
Clip off the excess wire tails and then guide the top of the wire in and through the hole in the tub. |
Add additional beads to the stem of the twisted wire gluing in between each set of beads |
The filigree anchor will keep the beads in place |
NOW IT'S BACK TO THE CAGE and onto - STEP 13 unhook the ends |
and using a hard flat tool, gently loosen the paper strips from the plastic form, running the tool just under the paper bands both top and bottom |
Use your tool to gently guide the form out, it should come away clean from the mold and leave you with the cage shape intact. |
The empty cage |
STEP 14 trim away the wire tails and test fit the roof of the cage to as pictured below BUT DON'T GLUE IT IN PLACE YET |
Add some filigree metal or paper for the bottom of the cage. I used a large scalloped paper punch to make an insert for inside the cage and a metal piece for the outside of my cage. |
Now for the paint I used a copper acrylic paint and I painted the entire cage inside and out. I painted the cage roof inside and out too and Left both of them to dry |
When the copper paint was dry I went over the entire cage again with BLUE BAHAMA acrylic paint, which I purchased at Michael's. |
Brush the black wash lightly over the blue and let dry, glue on the roof and YOU'RE DONE! |
La Cage! #1 and below is La Cage #2 |
Voila! and that's the end elizabeth :D |